


arcade hearts

by seoulshua (foreverchwe)



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Ice Cream, Kissing, M/M, Rollerblading, Strangers to Lovers, minsung if you squint, this is really romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 21:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14656836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreverchwe/pseuds/seoulshua
Summary: felix goes to a roller palace for jisung’s 18th birthday.antics ensue.





	arcade hearts

**Author's Note:**

> ayoo its ur boy jeremy back at it again with the fanfics! 
> 
> this took so long wtf
> 
> anyways ive been into stray kids a lot more now tbh i love them sm— chan is my ult too so i gotta show them more support by writing fics!!
> 
> if you enjoy this please enthuse about stray kids with me on my instagram! @chansfelix
> 
> thanks for reading!

god, he was so tired. 

felix wished he never came at all, but it WAS one of his best friend’s birthday and he’d feel extremely ashamed if didn’t attend. all that floated in his mind was regret- wondering over and over why jisung had chosen a roller palace for his 18th birthday. jisung had been the wonderful friend he always is and rented the three of them rollerblades. the building was absolutely a mock-up of the 80’s aesthetic, disco balls plastered to the ceiling and lazily spinning. there was a bright neon spacey looking carpet as they entered, a black background with patterns of squiggles and stars that made him frown. it’s not like he absolutely hates the place, but he’s starting to mildly dislike it. even the name made him sigh. what the fuck is a roller palace? felix walks to the main counter, a few steps behind minho and jisung. the employee asks the three of them their shoe sizes, and felix answers truthfully. 

they make their way over to a small side room just around the corner from the snack bar where the 3 of them could change their shoes, soon sitting down on the equally neon benches. regretfully, felix buys them a locker to put their stuff in and begins to take his shoes off. the skates were a little tight, and he almost fell immediately as he stood. securing the door to the locker and pinning the key to his pants, he slowly skate-walks over to where the rink began.

so, felix just said ‘fuck it’ in his mind and actually tried. minho and jisung soon entered the rink. hand in hand so they wouldn’t fall. felix sighs, pout eminent, knowing he’d be the third wheel for the majority of the day. the two of them skated off happily, doing it with ease and soon becoming a blur within the rest of the group. with a sigh, felix cautiously enters the ring as well, immediately grabbing for the rail beside him. his breath is shaky, eyes widening as he tries to skate normally like the other people surrounding him. felix bites his lip and tries to move again, pulling himself along the rail and trying to ignore the looks people are giving him from behind it. but, fate always gets to him when he deserves it the most. felix’s skate suddenly rolls away from the other one and he falls to his ass, a quiet yelp escaping. he grasps the rail with trembling hands and pulls himself up, slipping once more and falling again. 

this happens over and over, and tears well up in his eyes with frustration. to see the other teens skating so easily with each other, laughing and having fun, it just purely got on his nerves. he gets up, wiping the wetness from his eyes and slowly pulls himself over to where he entered. felix ignores the glares from moms beside the rink, stomping over to the table that was closest where he got off. he really wanted to rid himself of these death wheels, sitting down on the table’s bench with a loud sigh. leaning his cheek into his palm, felix peered towards the crowd currently skating. there was envy prominent in his glare, though he looked away once he saw minho and jisung. 

he checked the time over and over again, just to see if it was any closer to when they had to leave. but time just got slower and slower to him, each second becoming a minute and getting even longer. felix soon stands up and changes out of his skates, getting his shoes out of his locker just so he’d be more comfortable. he really forgot he’s with minho and jisung, giving the skates back to the main desk and ordering himself some fries from the snack bar. with his food, he sits down happily by himself. he knows by now that they’d forgotten that he was even there, only caught up in themselves. felix had been sitting there for a little while, finding himself watching people pass by. he doesn't really notice a figure approach his table quickly, leaning against it. he finally stares up, meeting his gaze with a fry in mouth. 

“i’m sorry if i’m uh.. interrupting anything.. but, are you alone?”

the first thing that felix notices is the boy’s clear accent. it’s like his own, thick and australian. a small smile emerges on felix’s lips as he inspects the boy’s appearance more. peering back at minho and jisung, he takes mental note that he really isn’t alone and came with friends. 

“yeah, i’m alone. why?” 

a smile grows on his face to match felix’s, bright and blinding to him. felix nearly chokes on his fry when dimples emerge on the boy’s face. he was pretty adorable- to say the least. 

“the people i was with left me and i just thought id look around and talk to other people.. can i sit down..?” he asks, almost hesitantly. felix nods, not too vigorously though. he doesn’t want to come off strong as a first impression. he can tell that the boy also wants make a good first mark, trying not to mess up at this. the boy sits down, leaning over the table and smiling at felix. 

“alright. cool. hi, i’m chris.” the boy, chris, sticks his hand over the table in light of them shaking. felix hesitantly accepts it while muttering his name as well, a little nervous to be around a stranger. he did seem really nice, and he was pretty cute too.. but felix knew that nice people could be rude on the inside. or have malicious intentions. there's a thoughtful expression on his face, felix watches as he thinks before he speaks, then listening. “i-i can tell that you’re australian but— okay, don’t think i’m being racist or anything- uh.. are you korean?” felix chuckled a little under his breath. how in the world would that even be racist. he shakes his head with a sigh, smiling. “yeah. yes. i am korean. though- i really don't like when people use my korean name. it’s not my birth name and i guess i’m just not used to being called it at all.” 

chris smirks, leaning back against the bench. “call me chan, then.” felix nods, lips pursing as he does so. this was a little awkward. he could tell chan was trying to make this work, trying to form a proper conversation and make it fun. 

“do you wanna go play some games? there's an arcade over there and i have some extra change. i think each game is like 25 cents maybe?” chan suggests, gesturing his hand over towards where the lockers were. felix’s eyes fell onto an old school sort of retro-esque games console, it looking like it had a bunch of old games on it. he can see pacman appear on the screen, and that seems pretty fun to him at the moment. with a quiet murmur of approval, felix stands and takes a moment to throw out his empty fry cup. as he looks back, chan is hovering behind him like a lost little puppy. a look of wonder is plastered upon his profile, eyes darting around felix’s face. a small smile emerges upon his lips and felix blushes, taking a step away since he was so close. god, they’d met merely 5 minutes ago and chan was already so clingy.

chan leads the two of them over to the arcade games, and quiet 8-bit music fills up his ears almost immediately. felix’s eyes land upon a machine to his left, with two guns connecting to it through a wire. it was about shooting zombies, he’d assume by the small example of the game on the screen. felix ponders for a split second, eyes darting between pacman and ‘zombie massacre 2’. he remembers the times he’s played pacman as a kid, always losing within seconds. so.. maybe that would be a waste of chan’s money. he chooses to play the first person shooter, picking up the gun out of its holder. 

chan was over beside another machine, he inspects to be some form of street fighter or mortal kombat. felix just stared at him momentarily, wondering if he was in his own little world or actually wanted to spend time with felix. chan soon looks back, eyes meeting for the third time that night. he can honestly see himself becoming really good friends with chan, but he doesn’t know if chan thinks of him the same way.

chan bounds over to him, a little smile plastered on his face. he holds out a quarter, and felix takes it from him with no wait. inputting the coin into the system and beginning the first level, felix begins to slowly shoot at the oncoming enemies and misses quite a few times. he could blame it on the game being rusty, but he knew it was just him messing up. this goes on for a few more levels, until the point where felix just keeps missing and the zombies just keep getting harder to hit. one zombie pops out from behind a box and felix’s character is caught off guard. he gets killed and the round ends, letting out a quiet but let down sigh. 

he has one more try left, so he wants this to be his best. felix is gonna try hard, and kill those zombies until there's none left. 

though, felix nearly jumps out of his skin as arms wrap around his. chan’s front meets his back and he’s absolutely surrounded. larger hands cover his and fingers curl around fingers as chan helps him aim at the screen. his breathing gets rough but he doesn't let chan see that, hands grasping around the gun’s handle harder than he did before. chan’s voice comes soft from behind his ear, whispering as if he didn’t want anyone else around them to hear. 

“let me help, mm? don’t want you to lose too early this round..” 

felix swallows nervously, feeling his heart tense and his stomach fill with fluttering butterflies. he’d never been so close to such a cute guy. one he met a few minutes earlier, to say the least. he wasn’t sure he trusted chan with his absolute life yet, but they seemed to be getting closer and closer as they spent more time together. chan grasps his hand a little harder as the game begins and soon they're aiming at each zombie together. a small smile appears on felix’s face as he beats the level he died on earlier, feeling chan nuzzle the side of his head against his own in a sort of.. supportive gesture. maybe it was something more. maybe it meant something more to chan. he didn’t know what it meant to chan, but he did know that it meant chan was already comfortable being himself around him. 

soon enough, they’d gotten to a much much higher level than the one felix was killed at. felix peers back at chan, a small smirk emerging upon his lips before noticing how close they actually were. chan’s breaths were shallow and felix could feel them tingle against his lips. but, being the absolute bumbling idiot he was at moments like this, felix turns away and looks down. chan’s hand was still over felix’s, other resting on his waist. felix lets out a quiet sigh and locks the gun back into his holster.

but- oh god. felix notices something a little alarming. 

“chan, um- there’s two guns.. why didn’t you just put in an extra 25 cents and play with me..?” he muttered, stepping away from chan’s hold and turning to face him. the smirk on chan’s face gave him a clue about his intentions, watching as chan sits down on the bench behind where they were playing. 

“ah.. looks like i’ve been caught. good job, felix.” chan mutters, smirk turning into a slightly guilty look as he leans forward into his hands. felix’s eyebrows raise curiously, tilting his head as if he didn’t understand what chan meant. 

“c-caught? caught doing what?” felix pondered aloud, taking a slow but almost hesitant step towards where chan was sat. chan let out a breathless chuckle momentarily before returning felix’s gaze. their eyes connect, brown getting lost in brown for the umpteenth time that night. unbeknownst to felix, he’d do this a lot more in the future. chan suddenly tears away from their contact, gaze falling to the ground. felix can see chan’s adam’s apple bob as he swallows, he’s guessing it’s purely because of nerves. chan clears his throat, moving his hands from his knees to against the bench beside him, slowly pushing himself up to stand. he meets felix in the middle, making them a mere 5 inches apart from one another. 

felix’s legs almost give out on him, the butterflies in his stomach moving more and more rapidly as chan’s eyes meet his once again. his gaze falters, moving to what felix assumes to be his own lips. 

chan’s voice comes as a quiet whisper, the only thing he could hear over the excited screams and yells of children enjoying themselves. he tunes out the other voices. all he wants to hear right then and there is chan, no one else. he doesn’t care nor remember about minho and jisung at the moment. it feels as if he’s known chan for longer than the two of them, even if minho and jisung have been his best friends since they were in grade school. 

“i just wanted to be close to you. b-because..” chan falters for a moment, gaze falling down as he thinks about what he wants to say before speaking once more. 

“because i like you. i think you’re really attractive. i think you’re so adorable. cuter than anything i’ve ever seen. literally, if someone asked me, i could talk about you every moment of every day.” chan mutters, making sure to hold his gaze with felix and never, ever break it once while they’re like this. felix’s mouth hangs open in wonder. he doesn’t know if this is reality or a dream, eyes wandering all around chan’s face looking for an answer. this being the first time anyone’s ever fallen in love with him, felix’s eyes begin to well up with tears. the pads of chan’s thumbs move to just above his cheeks, rubbing lightly and wiping away the tears. a caring smile soon forms upon chan’s lips, eyebrows drooping slightly. 

“hey, hey.. don’t cry.” he mutters, cupping felix’s cheeks in the palms of his hands. “someone as stunning as you doesn’t get to cry, so wipe your pretty eyes and hold your head high.” 

“n-no!” felix stutters, laughing a little and raising his hand to dab at his eyes. “no, i.. i’m not sad. these aren’t sad tears. i’m really really happy. trust me, okay? trust me on this.” chan’s smile grows wide to match his own, nodding furiously after. felix knows now that chan trusts him, and he wants chan to know that he trusts him equally as much. but, he doesn’t really know how to show him that. there's a silence that comes after chan not speaking, and the two of them just stand there staring into eachothers eyes. really, felix had forgotten they were in public. felix’s heart is beating out of his chest, but for some reason, he isn’t as scared as he thought he would be if this ever happened. it is happening now and felix is barely even scared. because he’s with someone he trusts. and that makes it ten times better. 

chan begins to lean in as felix is lost in his thoughts, tilting his head slowly to the right. as chan’s breath tickle against his lips, this time he isn’t going to turn away. they’re about to kiss and felix is actually ready for it. chan’s eyelashes flutter at his cheeks they’re so close, and felix can feel his lips. just the slightest warmth of them. with the one small bit felix moves forward, their lips are fully on one another’s. chan’s lips slot against his almost perfectly, like puzzle pieces meant exactly for one another. it’s soft, nothing lustful about it. this is all felix wanted in a first kiss, and he got it. 

felix takes the time while they’re kissing to notice the tiniest things about chan. the way his neutral tone smells, almost warm and christmassy with hints of spice. how chan’s hesitant to put his hands on felix, palms hovering over his hips after moving from his cheeks. felix finds chan’s hands in his own and places them on his hips and holds them there firmly, feeling chan’s lips turn upwards into a little smile. felix’s nose bumps against chan’s as they turn their heads and deepen the kiss, morphing it into something a little more sensual than previously. 

chan pulls away first and they seperate with a slightly wet smack. felix lets out a quiet giggle, grinning as chan holds his hands in his own and leads him to sit down on the bench beside him. felix scoots closer to chan, their thighs one beside the other. he leans his head onto chan’s shoulder and wiggles his hand into chan’s. their fingers intertwine and felix tell without looking a wide smile is forming upon his lips.

they don’t speak, just sit there, appreciative to be in each other's presence. felix enjoys the silence, finds it calming even. he really does forget they’re in public, even if there was annoyingly catchy pop music playing loud over the speakers. minho and jisung felt like strangers, if he was honest. he’d choose to spend time with chan over them. he’s known minho and jisung since they were pre-teens, and he’s known chan for maybe half an hour. though, there can’t always be silence between them. chan’s voice soon comes after maybe 4 minutes of not speaking to one another. felix moves his head so they can look at eachother, chan returning his gaze almost momentarily. 

“do you wanna get out of here as much as i do?” chan had a little bit of a sly smirk on his lips, awaiting an answer from felix.

felix ponders for a moment, humming as he does so. he does want to leave and spend time with chan, but he came here for jisung’s birthday. he’d feel kinda bad if they did leave, purely because he came with his best friends. but.. chan was really important to him then. he had to choose between them, but it’s one of the hardest choices he was faced with in such a long time. chan gives him time to think, and that’s great. but he doesn’t know how long he’ll need to think. he doesn’t want to leave chan waiting.. okay. he decides to go over the pros and cons. pro, he’ll get to spend more time with chan. con, jisung and minho will most likely get mad at him. pro, he’ll have the chance to maybe get a boyfriend. con, if he stays with jisung and minho, chan might just become a one time fling.

after a good while of thinking, felix decides. 

“where would we be going?” he questions, leaving chan to think. 

chan tilts his head back down to face felix once again, blinking slowly before replying. “how about our first date?”

damn.

even felix can admit that was smooth. 

letting out a quiet giggle, felix nuzzles his forehead into chan’s forearm and soon nods. the butterflies in his stomach had gone away, now replaced by the excited feeling of falling in love for the first time. he was still young, not knowing if this would last or not. but as people have told him, there’s no harm in living your life the way you want to. 

“let’s go, hmm?” felix muttered, sitting up and placing his chin upon chan’s shoulder. he turns on his phone momentarily, looking at the time before thinking. him, jisung and minho had arrived to the building at three, and the time on his phone read five. he remembers jisung telling him that they had to leave at that time, since there was a private party happening straight after. felix stands up and tugs on chan’s hand for him to get up as well. chan reluctantly stand with a sleepy-esque chuckle, still holding on tight to their connected grasp. the two of them walk out of the arcade hand in hand, felix leading chan back to where his locker was. taking the key and unlocking it, he takes out the rest of his stuff and then closes it back up. felix then pauses for a moment, remembering that minho and jisung’s stuff was also inside the locker. he knows they still have their phones, so he can just take their stuff with him and text them to pick it up later. stuffing their items into his backpack, felix closes the locker, puts their shoes under the bench (which other people had done too, so it was fine) and turned back to chan. 

“okay, i think that’s everything sorted, shall we?” felix beams at him, watching chan’s cheeks turn a muted shade of pink. after putting on his backpack, he reunites their hands and tugs chan around the corner, past the rink and closing in onto the exit. until felix hears a familiar voice. 

“yah! felix! where did you run off to all this time?” comes jisung’s voice a little ways away. felix whips around, loosening his grip on chan’s hand a little and staring at his two friends with a guilty look on his face. he tries to stutter out a sentence, only making a little noise before shutting his mouth. minho tugs jisung forward and meets the two of them in the middle. he could tell jisung wasn’t mad, just a little let down. felix took a deep breath before speaking, making sure he knew what he was about to say. 

“hey, hey, listen.. okay- don’t get mad. because honestly, you guys looked like you were having a really good time just by yourselves. i didn’t wanna butt in to your relationship and just.. become a third wheel. so i went, took off my skates and sat by myself. and you know what? i actually met someone who treated me like i was a person. not just some.. disposable friend.. look, i get it. you probably just forgot i was here. but.. why invite me if you only wanted to hang out with minho this entire day?” felix ranted on and on, grasping tighter and tighter to chan’s hand and bringing himself onto the verge of tears. the look of pure shock on jisung’s face let felix know he actually made an impact, felix huffing and turning his head to look at chan momentarily. chan’s face is even more shocked than jisung’s, maybe more scared than shocked. 

felix cleared his throat, making sure he put in one last word. “by the way, i don’t know how to skate. you guys should’ve known that since we’ve been friends for literally over a decade..” taking his backpack off and unzipping it, felix hands minho and jisung their stuff from the locker before putting it back on and grabbing for chan’s hand again. “i’m gonna leave now. hope you don’t mind! happy fucking birthday, jisung.” felix lets out a shaky sigh and tugs chan along with him out of the exit, despite minho’s last attempt to keep them there. felix stops in the parking lot and turns to chan, muttering a question under his breath. chan’s eyebrows furrow, telling felix he didn’t understand what he said. felix repeats himself, avoiding chan’s gaze. 

“where’s your car?” he mutters, a little embarrassed to have shown himself mad in front of chan since they just met. he didn’t want chan’s opinion of him to change, but maybe it didn’t. he just has to hope that it didn't. chan lets out a quiet chuckle, pointer finger curling under felix’s chin and pushing his head upwards so that they’d be facing each other. 

“felix..” comes chan’s voice, soft and welcoming. “don’t be nervous around me, anymore, okay? i wanna see the real you rather than you pretending to be someone you’re not. don’t be embarrassed about anything.” felix felt a little better after chan said that, but still was a little unsure of himself then. but, oh well. “and.. i, um.. walked here. but— you know what sounds really good right now? ice cream, and there's a creamery down by the pier and we can get ice cream and walk down the pier and it’d be really romantic.. doesn’t that sound really good right now? or is that just me?” 

felix lets out a sigh, frown soon growing into a small reluctant smile. chan was so easily excitable and he absolutely loved that about him. pressing a chaste kiss to one of chan’s dimples, and taking a step backwards after that. 

“yeah, actually. ice cream does sound nice.” he agrees, letting their gazes intermingle once more. “you can lead me, mm? i don’t know where you’re talking about.. so, you can my captain on our little adventure!” 

so, they embarked on their so called ‘adventure’ together, walking for maybe a good 15 minutes before they arrive onto the boardwalk. chan leads felix into the creamery, holding the door open for him like a gentleman and felix thanking him profusely. chan orders a scoop of mint chocolate, while felix gets something called ‘blackjack cherry’. it was this cherry-filled chocolate-cherry combo, with little imitation peanut butter cups in it. except it wasn’t peanut butter, it was cherry juice. chan holds the door open for him again as they leave, felix linking their hands once more and leading him down the pier. it was near sunset, so the beach was still a little full. couples were scattered all around the area in small bunches, the sound of children having fun and screaming being able to be heard all around them. he missed the early days of his youth, travelling down to the beach with his family, ordering a huge box of fries and the majority of them getting stolen by seagulls. 

as they reach the end of the pier, chan separates their hands and leans against railing, staring out and into the sea. felix joins him, though not staring into the sea. he watches the way chan’s face calms, how his eyes droop with relaxation as if he was almost sleepy. felix lets out a quiet sigh, averting his gaze to the sea. he just stays silent, licking at his ice cream until there's nearly nothing left. though, chan’s voice comes through the silence as he leans over. 

“you have a little something on your— here, lemme get it…” he mutters, pressing a thumb to the corner of felix’s lips and wiping a drop or two of stray ice cream. chan sucks the dessert off his thumb with a cheeky grin, nudging felix with his shoulder. but felix doesn’t smile, just turns his head to stare out at the crashing waves. chan’s grin becomes a frown and he leans closer, pouting in felix’s direction. 

“what's up?” he asks, trying to get felix to look back at him. 

there's a little bit of silence as felix ponders, thinking of what to say. thinking of the perfect way to ask what’s on his mind. he comes up with something short and sweet, not too forceful, just enough curiosity. 

“what are we? or rather, what am i to you?”

chan seems a little taken aback by the question, taking a deep breath and thinking hard. now he needs to come up with something to say. felix can tell he really wants to find a way to say it perfectly, just like he did. 

“do you wanna be boyfriends?” 

felix’s answer comes easier than before. 

“more than anything in the world.” 

and with that, chan closes the short distance between them and kisses felix as if it’s the last time he’ll ever see him. felix can taste chan’s ice cream upon his lips, sweet and minty. mint becomes cherry-mint as their mouths mingle, chan tilting his head to take it deeper. felix sighs into the kiss, letting his hand rest against chan’s cheek. chan slowly turns them, trapping felix against the pier’s railing. 

they jerk backwards as a sudden splash was heard in the water behind them, chan’s eyebrows furrowing before he realizes his ice cream is gone out of his hand. 

“you- you- chan! you dropped your ice cream into the water while we were making out? what kind of move is that?” felix retorts as he’s dying of laughter. chan keels over as well, laughing into felix’s neck as he leans against him. 

“ohh my god i am so stupid! why did i just finish it before kissing yooouu…” he howls, laughter turning into quiet sobs. felix wraps his arms around chan’s torso with muted chuckles, pressing a kiss to his hair while patting his back slowly. “calm down, it’s just ice cream..” felix soothes, shushing him.

“no— i know it’s just ice cream but i’m actually really hungry and i didn’t get to finish it..” chan whines, falling back into felix’s hold. 

with a final giggle, felix stares down at chan with such love, knowing there was many more moments like this to come within their relationship.

it was something he looked forward to.


End file.
